suegirl

I was in your boat last week,posting about the same thing. But honestly.... you have no idea how your skin will react. You may be tight, you may be loose.... but you won;t be fat. Take care of your skin. Follow all the hints and pray for the best. Worry about it when you lose the weight. It's done

I had my surgery yesterday morning and it went excellent!!! The PA's were totally wrong and the surgeon did not try to talk me out this surgery. He was incredibly supportive and thought I would do very well with the sleeve!!! Such a huge relief. I get to go home tomorrow and I feel so much better than I thought I would! Im so happy

I'm having a second thing become reallity that was on my bucket list ( the first was having WLS), I'm geting my brand new Harley Davidson Motorcycle saturday! I'm so excited.

You sir, are my new hero for explaining that so simply..

Get the facts from a accountant because:
A... You simply have to prove the medical necessity of having it.ie.the treatment of obesity or other co-morbitities.
B... I also do not believe that you have to have had the procedure done stateside to claim it.
C... According to the IRS website, http://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/ar02.html#en_US_publink1000178862 You can deduct a portion of the travel...

Please do your homework before you shoot off your mouth about something of which you obviously haven't investigated... There is an entire industry built on medical "tourism" and those locations are not in the middle of crime ridden sections of countries... There are NUMEROUS people on this board that have had their surgeries South of the border with absolutely no problems...

15 days out, nutritionist moved me to pureed yesterday so I could start getting protein.. None of the liquid Proteins agree with me and go right through me... I came home and had some egg salad... OMG that was the best egg salad lol.... I am starting to feel a bit better as a result of eating food with at least some texture....

My surgery was just over two weeks ago... between the pre-op diet and the surgery itself, I am down 23 lbs... I have not exercised one bit because I cannot seem to drink any Protein, therefore no energy... it all runs right through me.. They released me to pureed yesterday so that I can start taking in Protein via food... I will be swimming and yoga starting next week though...

I do t know why you say this. I was 245 and BMI was 42, I am only 5' 2" so am short. Have you ever tried to lose 100 lbs on your own? This statement made me kind of mad.
Sent from my iPad using VST

Great idea on the pandora Bracelet as a reminder of the progress made!

My Bucket list
1. get off oxygen and c-pap machine when I sleep
2.go up stairs without losing my breath
3.get a pandora braclet and every 20lbs I lose buy a charm
4. Just to enjoy life and my grandkids and keep up with them!

Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good airplane???

The closest I will get to skydiving is watching someone else do it!

I want to play with my grandson ALL DAY without being winded or hurting..
I want to go on a cruise, with an awesome bathing suit to an amazing place..
I WILL go white Water rafting through the Grand Canyon on my 50th..
I WILL go on a long distance motorcycle ride that doesn't hurt or embarrass me...
I WANT TO LIVE!

we are all so awesome. we did something that most ppl wouldnt think of doing or afraid and we had the courage to do it. we got through the worse part guys now the rest is up to us.
after that cupcake yesterday i am turned off from sweets for now yuk. i am sitting here with my sugar free oatmeal and cant finish it all yippeeeeeeeee.
last night i ate soft food and guess what i stayed full i didnt even want to eat 3 hrs later but i did in order to keep my metabolism going.
well on my way to the first follow up visit. and i meet with baratric nutrution person today lots of questions for both.
talk to you guys when i get back

I wasn't too fond of his style of communication myself, I also would only have surgery at Baylor TC. I left his office so mad that I went for a second opinion at another doc. I ended up going back to Dr Kim and Baylor TC. Whatever helps make us skinny.

Get the facts from a accountant because:
A... You simply have to prove the medical necessity of having it.ie.the treatment of obesity or other co-morbitities.
B... I also do not believe that you have to have had the procedure done stateside to claim it.
C... According to the IRS website, http://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/ar02.html#en_US_publink1000178862 You can deduct a portion of the travel...

Toothbrush and socks... I wore comfy to the hospital to wear home... I had a late afternoon surgery, was pretty much out cold until the next morning... Leak test at 8AM, walking after that.. Grabbed a second gown to cover my backside and was released to go home by 1PM.. Don't even remember what was on the TV LOL....

Your Cigna is better than mine. I figured mine would require 20% or ~ $6k. After reading above, I called. My policy doesn't cover any bariatric surgery, at all. Maybe my doctor offers a deep self-pay discount... or... time to look for a new job.
Hmmm....

The only thing I used (from a bunch of stuff that I took) were ear plugs and lip balm. The day of surgery you're going to be sleeping most of the time - or walking every couple of hours. I really didn't feel like doing much else. The second day started with a test to check for leaks. After that, I watched TV and napped between walks (walk, walk, walk - you won't really want to, but it really does make a difference in how you feel). I went home late afternoon the day after surgery. I very much doubt you'll be spending much time on your laptop - positioning for that will probably be uncomfortable. And the hospital really is the best place to be (as annoying as it can be with people in and out of your room taking vitals, etc.). If you need meds for pain or nausea, the nurses are right there - and I PROMISE, the shot of pain meds is MUCH better than swallowing the liquid pain meds you'll have at home. In my case, I only needed liquid Tylenol a couple of times after I got home. I'm 2 weeks post-surgery and feel great! Plenty of energy and have lost about 20 pounds (going back to the start of the liquid diet that was for 2 weeks pre-surgery). I walk at least twice a day for at least 15 minutes each time. And just uncovered my treadmill so plan to increase that.
Best of luck - you'll do fine!

Sounds like you're on the wrong team! Be patient and find u another surgeon. Sound like he's insecure about doing the sleeve to me..IJS

Yes, you can and I did, as well as the airfare to and from.
First, as previously stated, you MUST itemize your taxes, if you fill out the 1040EZ or 1040A then you don't itemize so you get NO benefit.
Second you can only deduct the amount that is OVER 7.5% of your adjusted gross income, NOT the whole thing. So gather up ALL your medical expenses and add them up, if they don't add up to MORE than 7.5% of your gross income then you can't deduct them.
The deduction is just that, a DEDUCTION. You do NOT get "the whole thing back" or even the amount above the 7.5% (see point above) you get the amount OVER the 7.5 reduced off your adjusted gross income, so that means you don't pay taxes on the amount of money you are allowed to deduct. So if you pay 20% in federal income taxes you won't have to pay the 20% tax on the amount you can deduct. So you don't "take off" the full amount, or even the amount above 7.5% of your gross income you just don't have to pay taxes on the amount you can deduct.
Let's say you make $100,000 (we'll use easy numbers even though they don't represent most users real income). IF you have more than 7.5% in qualified medical deductions - that is OUT OF POCKET eligible medical expenses - of MORE than $7500 you can reduce your taxable income by the excess. Say you have $10,000 in medical expenses YOU paid for. You can put a deduction on your tax form of $2500 - that's the $10,000 LESS the 7.5% or $7500. That means you WILL NOT pay taxes on the $2500. So if you pay 20% in taxes you will reduce your tax payment by $500 - which is 20% of $2500. If you already get a refund, your refund will be $500 MORE, if you owe taxes on something else then this goes toward paying that tax bill.
There is a way around this for SOME, if you have a qualified HIGH DEDUCTIBLE insurance policy the government allows you to save - tax free - in a Health Saving Account (HSA) and pay for any QUALIFIED medical expenses from in, in essence not pay taxes on ALL your medical expenses that you pay using the HSA.
See a tax expert for more details.

Get the facts from a accountant because:
A... You simply have to prove the medical necessity of having it.ie.the treatment of obesity or other co-morbitities.
B... I also do not believe that you have to have had the procedure done stateside to claim it.
C... According to the IRS website, http://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/ar02.html#en_US_publink1000178862 You can deduct a portion of the travel...

401k contributions are PRETAX not post.. and you don't get taxed or penalized on a 401k LOAN.. You only get penalized on a 401k hardship/early withdrawal... Hardship or early withdrawals are not repaid but are counted as income. 401k loans are not... Been there done that, more than once.. repaid myself at a higher rate of interest... tied up the money so they couldn't play with it on the stock market (which is what they do)...
It might not be for everyone... BUT not everyone knows this option is out there and they should....

401k contributions are PRETAX not post.. and you don't get taxed or penalized on a 401k LOAN.. You only get penalized on a 401k hardship/early withdrawal... Hardship or early withdrawals are not repaid but are counted as income. 401k loans are not... Been there done that, more than once.. repaid myself at a higher rate of interest... tied up the money so they couldn't play with it on the stock market (which is what they do)...
It might not be for everyone... BUT not everyone knows this option is out there and they should....